I call thy name right up into the sky,
  Dear name, O surely she shall hear and hark! 
Nay, though I toss it singing up so high,
  It drops again, like yon returning lark.

O be a dove, dear name, and find her breast,
  There croon and croodle all the lonely day;
Go tell her that I love her still the best,
  So many days, so many miles, away.

POSTSCRIPT

So sang young Love in high and holy dream
  Of a white Love that hath no earthly taint,
So rapt within his vision he did seem
  Less like a boyish singer than a saint.

Ah, Boy, it is a dream for life too high,
  It is a bird that hath no feet for earth: 
Strange wings, strange eyes, go seek another sky
  And find thy fellows of an equal birth.

For many a body-sweet material thing,
  What canst thou give us half so dear as these? 
We would not soar amid the stars to sing,
  Warm and content amid the nested trees.

Young Seraph, go and lake thy song to heaven,
  We would not grow unhappy with our lot,
Leave us the simple love the earth hath given—­
  Sing where thou wilt, so that we hear thee not_.

COR CORDIUM

TO MY WIFE, MILDRED

Dear wife, there is no word in all my songs
But unto thee belongs: 
Though I indeed before our true day came
Mistook thy star in many a wandering flame,
Singing to thee in many a fair disguise,
Calling to thee in many another’s name,
Before I knew thine everlasting eyes.

Faces that fled me like a hunted fawn
I followed singing, deeming it was Thou,
Seeking this face that on our pillow now
Glimmers behind thy golden hair like dawn,
And, like a setting moon, within my breast
Sinks down each night to rest.

Moon follows moon before the great moon flowers,
Moon of the wild wild honey that is ours;
Long must the tree strive up in leaf and root,
Before it bear the golden-hearted fruit: 
And shall great Love at once perfected spring,
Nor grow by steps like any other thing?_

COR CORDIUM

The lawless love that would not be denied, The love that waited, and in waiting died, The love that met and mated, satisfied.

Ah, love, ’twas good to climb forbidden walls,
Who would not follow where his Juliet calls? 
’Twas good to try and love the angel’s way,
With starry souls untainted of the clay;
But, best the love where earth and heaven meet,
The god made flesh and dwelling in us, sweet._

(October 22, 1891.)

THE DESTINED MAID:  A PRAYER

(Chant Royal)